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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392938">Flash</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannah_is_tiredd/pseuds/hannah_is_tiredd'>hannah_is_tiredd</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kid Cosmic (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Blood and Injury, Car Accidents, Childhood Trauma, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Needs Therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Series, Survivor Guilt, The Kid Has Sensory Processing Disorder And You Can't Convince Me Otherwise, Whump, Why Do You Do This To Me Craig McCracken, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:41:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,437</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392938</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannah_is_tiredd/pseuds/hannah_is_tiredd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid has a dream about his most traumatic life event played from start to finish.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>The Kid &amp; Papa G</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flash</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>And here's my first foray in the Kid Cosmic tag! I know it's pretty short but it's for the purpose of testing the waters. Kid Cosmic belongs to Netflix and Craig McCracken don't sue me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a warm Wednesday night in June in the outskirts of Albuquerque, as a lone car was riding along the two-lane highway. Inside that car were two loving parents, and their son sitting in his booster seat in the back with his face glued to a comic, who was only known as The Kid.</p><p> </p><p>He was rarely referred to by his real name. He'd been trying to create his own superhero moniker, given that he constantly indulges himself in comics and fantasizes about becoming just like the heroes one day. Referring to himself as "The Kid", his parents supported his endeavors and his mother even made a cape for him, which he has worn every day since he'd received it a week ago.</p><p> </p><p>He'd been wanting to update his name, maybe add something after "Kid"...</p><p> </p><p><em>Cosmic</em>...his mind wandered as he read his comics, snuggled in his booster seat.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>The Kid Cosmic? No, remove the "the"...</em>
</p><p> </p><p><em>Kid Cosmic.</em> It rolls off the tongue.</p><p> </p><p>Kid eagerly looked up from his book to tell his parents about his new name, but they were quietly whispering about something.</p><p> </p><p>Was this something they didn't want him to know?</p><p> </p><p>He could only barely make out what words they were saying...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Teachers...complaints...Kid's behavior...therapist...expensive...</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>...Tinted glasses...headphones?...Self-conscious...made fun of...</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Were they...arguing about <em>him</em>?</p><p> </p><p>They'd done so well with supporting him...were they now starting to get fed up with it?</p><p> </p><p>These thoughts circle the 6-year-old's mind, as he wonders if he really is the nuisance that his teachers make him out to be.</p><p> </p><p>The whispers started to get louder, and Kid tried hard to divert his focus back to his comic.</p><p> </p><p>But something else entered his attention.</p><p> </p><p>In the distance was a very faint light from another vehicle about to pass them by on the opposite lane. They were a good bit far away from them, but the light was extremely bright. Or maybe it was just his sensory disorder playing up. Maybe he <em>does</em> need an extra tint on these special glasses...</p><p> </p><p>Then the feelings of panic started.</p><p> </p><p>He felt something wasn't right.</p><p> </p><p>The light...his parents having one of their rare arguments...the lonely road late at night...it felt like a recipe for disaster.</p><p> </p><p>The truck was getting closer... but the lights started moving away from their own lane.</p><p> </p><p>That's when The Kid realized he and his parents were in trouble. Very big trouble.</p><p> </p><p>His mother shouted and signaled at her husband to focus on the road. He looked to see that a semi was swerving into their lane, and it happened so quickly that he had barely prepared to swerve away.</p><p> </p><p>Kid's stomach dropped as the worst was about to come true. He threw down the book, quickly leaned over, and yelled "MOM! DAD! NOOOO!"</p><p> </p><p>...but it was far too late.</p><p> </p><p>The former quiet ambiance of being inside the car was interrupted when the semi collided, and it would be the last split second he saw his parents. There was a flash of light...a splatter of blood...a sharp pain near his stomach...and then there was darkness.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>Kid quickly shot up from his slumber in a cold sweat, screaming and repeating "<strong>NOOOO</strong>!". He grips his blanket tightly and wraps it around him, as tears quickly run down his cheeks. He tries to catch his breath as he repeatedly mutters "<em>No, no, no, no, no...</em>".</p><p> </p><p>The boy crawls off his bed and onto the floor, as him just being in his bed reminded him of waking up in the hospital bed after his coma from the crash, and the slight pain he felt from the scar on his formerly punctured stomach, and when the nurse told him those chilling words "<em>Your mom and dad are no longer with us</em>", and when he burst in the tears repeatedly denying the fact they were <em>gone</em>...</p><p> </p><p>He was only six.</p><p> </p><p>Now nine, he sits on the shag carpet in his trailer filled with his comic books and many other things he'd collected from his grandpa's heaps of junk in the three years he's lived there so far.</p><p> </p><p>He lifts his pajama shirt to see his scar on his lower abdomen. He once had dreams where it had opened back up. He also had ones where his parents came back as ghosts to berate him for not telling them early enough that the truck was coming for them. Sometimes he'd have dreams where he's standing by himself in the middle of a road with a truck coming at him, and he'd be unable to escape.</p><p> </p><p>He grabs his cape sitting a few inches away from him and holds it close. The very same cape his mother made for him the week before he lost her. He'd constantly have it on, pretending to be like the superheroes he read about in the comics. Even after he's started to outgrow the rather small cape, he still doesn't leave his trailer without it on. It is one of the few remnants of his parents that remain, after he was suddenly dragged from his old house in his suburban town and had to move in a trailer next to his Papa G's house in the literal middle of nowhere.</p><p> </p><p>He hated living with that guilt. That he couldn't save his parents. That he yelled too late.</p><p> </p><p>So since then he's amplified the hero dedication even more, wanting to become one so he can prevent losing his loved ones again, and to finally gain a sense of goddamn <em>control</em> of his life. Because for the last three years, his life has been a mess. Everyone in this small town who isn't Papa G or the resident stray cat Tuna thinks he's a massive screwup who's still stuck in his delusion at the age of 9 that he'll ever become a superhero with otherworldly powers and save the world as Kid Cosmic. But he still hasn't given up. And he never will.</p><p> </p><p>The boy hears footsteps outside his trailer, which could only be from Papa G. Why would he need Kid this late?</p><p> </p><p>"You alright in here, Kid?" his grandfather asks him as he peeks into the trailer. The old man sees Kid on the floor wiping his reddened eyes, his glasses sitting on the floor.</p><p> </p><p>"How did you know there was something wrong with me?" Kid asks, his voice trembling.</p><p> </p><p>"Well, I...kinda felt there was something up with ya. I know today was the day you lost your folks a few years back, and...well, I thought you needed some talking to. Or...if ya don't wanna talk about it, we can just hug it out."</p><p> </p><p>The boy nods as a few more tears leave him, and lets out his arms. His grandpa kneels down and wraps him in a hug.</p><p> </p><p>Kid knows Papa G would've had a hard time on this day as well...he lost his daughter, who he hadn't seen in years as she lived so far away. Since then he'd dedicated all his time to making sure Kid was as happy as possible, even giving him a trailer with everything he would love inside of it. And on the day where they both lost someone special, Kid remembers the amount of dedication Papa G has to keeping him happy...</p><p> </p><p>"<em>Thanks, Papa G</em>..." </p><p> </p><p>"Anything to help my brave little hero."</p><p> </p><p>They hug for a little while longer until Kid was done crying.</p><p> </p><p>"You feel better, now that you let it all out?" Papa G asks, getting up from the ground. The boy nods.</p><p> </p><p>"Well, I'm gonna head on back now. I just hope you know all this wasn't your fault Kid..."</p><p> </p><p>He'd heard that from Papa G many times now, yet he couldn't accept it.</p><p> </p><p>"...no matter what you think, I know you couldn't help what happened that night. No one blames you."</p><p> </p><p>Kid fiddles with a loose fiber of carpet on the ground as his grandpa makes his way out of the trailer.</p><p> </p><p>"Get a good night's sleep, now." He finally says before closing the door.</p><p> </p><p>The Kid crawls back into his bed and tries to fall asleep again, but he's unsuccessful. Tossing and turning, flipping his pillows, staring at the ceiling.</p><p> </p><p>That's what he does for 30 minutes.</p><p> </p><p>Until he hears something.</p><p> </p><p>A loud <strong><em>boom</em></strong>.</p><p> </p><p>Kid quickly leaps up and looks out his window to see smoke piling up from a mountain in the distance, and what looks like a <em>spacecraft</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Without hesitation, the boy sprints out of his trailer, grabs his bike Spitfire, and rides off to what he believes is his destiny.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Craig McCracken did confirm in an instagram comment that Kid's mom made the cape for him which both broke and warmed my heart.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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